WFDF Disc Golf World Rankings

Below you will find the first WFDF World Rankings for Disc Golf by country. This process has taken considerable time and co-operation between WFDF Disc Golf Committee and PDGA. WFDF acknowledges the use of PDGA Rating systems as an important part of creating a realistic balance between individual and team play and as a reflection of the state of Disc Golf amongst and within member countries at this time.

World Rankings will become an ever increasingly important tool in deciding on the inclusion of countries in multi-games sports formats in the future. International World Games Association, World Masters Games and International Olympic Committee sanctioned events demand a critical and objective means for selecting teams for their events. It is also important for individual members to be able to approach their National Funding Associations with data on their standing in the world and how this may be improved. We believe we have made the first important steps in doing this for Disc Golf.

The Criteria that has been used to begin this process of World Ranking is the following:

Criteria

PDGA Ratings

1.Points are awarded based on the PDGA Ratings of the top individual players in every country that is a member of WFDF or a PDGA Affiliated country. The Ratings of the Female and Male players are ranked separately. The top Ranked Male and Female teams shall then receive 75 points which is the current number of WFDF members. Second place shall receive 70 points, then 67, 64, 61. Places from 6th-33rd shall be separated by 2 points. Countries with only one player shall score 3 points. Countries with no rated players shall receive 0 points.

2.The Average of points of the Sum of both Male and Female teams shall be calculated and a PDGA World Ranking created. The top country shall receive 75 points. Second place shall receive 70 points, then 67, 64, 61. Places from 6th-28th shall be separated by 2 points. Places from 29th-40th shall be separated by 1 point.

3.Players whose Ratings count shall be, for Males: Top 3 x MPO, 1 x MP40 , 1 X MJ18 and for Females: Top 3 x FPO. These Ratings will be calculated on January 1st and July 1st every year to amend the World Rankings and immediately after any WFDF WTDGC event.

4.It is recognised that there is a current gender inequality in the numbers of players used to calculate these Ratings. However, at this time it is impossible to accurately calculate the following Divisions due to lack of information in the PDGA data base for Ratings: FP40 (FPM) - many, if not most, FPM eligible players choose to play in FPO so an accurate inclusion in the Rankings of FPM is not possible. FJ18 - There are not enough PDGA registered players world wide to warrant inclusion in the Rankings at this time. We compensate for this inequality of number of players by attributing the same value of points to both Female and Male Ratings.

5.There is also potential confusion over the nationality of some players when calculating Ratings as many players living in, say USA, may be from Canada, GBR or any other country in the world. WFDF have tried as best as possible to make sure that all Ratings used for each country apply to nationals from those countries.

WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships

1.Points shall be awarded to every country that attends WTDGC - 5 points to every team.

2.Points shall be awarded for finishing places at WTDGC - Each place shall be awarded 3 x the number of teams who attend the event. For example in 2017 there were 10 teams. So first place was awarded 10 x 3, second place 9 x 3 etc.

3.Only points from the 3 previous WTDGC events shall count and World Rankings be recalculated immediately after each WTDGC.

4.Rankings are decided based on the points won over the 3 previous WTDGC events

WFDF World Rankings

The totals of points gained from PDGA Ratings and WTDGC events are added together to give an overall points total. World Rankings are then determined with the highest score receiving the highest Ranking. Under the system used this currently represents an approximate weighting of 60% for PDGA Ratings and 40% for WTDGC results.

Notes on World Ranking Revision

The World Ranking will be revised every six months on January 1st and July 1st, or immediately after the bi-annual WTDGC.

A revision of any or all criteria for generating a World Disc Golf Ranking for Countries will also be reviewed on a six months basis based on feedback from WFDF members, PDGA and PDGA Europe Board of Directors and officers.

WFDF Disc Golf Committee recognise that, as a first attempt to create a World Ranking for Nations, there may well be factors that need to be included in future criteria. We would ask you all to be patient in working with us on developing a system that is in progress.

For example we are already working on a system that rewards countries who compete against each other on a Regional, Continental or even Individual Test Match basis. A system will be implemented to award points to countries to improve their Ranking by playing WFDF sanctioned Team events

We would also ask you all to review the specific criteria above and suggest any alterations, amendments or additions. We are particularly interested in views on equitable use of gender based divisions and whether the criteria also meet WFDF principles of inclusion by rewarding participation at both team and individual player level.

The WFDF Disc Golf World rankings are in the table below. Further down the page, the PDGA World Classification Points and the WTDGC World Classification Points tables are available as well for reference as to how the overall rankings were decided.